Christine Cooper

Professor Christine Cooper joined the Business School in February 2018 as Chair in Accounting. She was previously Chair in Accounting at the University of Strathclyde.

Academic Appointments

Edinburgh University

• 2018–present, Professor

Strathclyde University

• 1999–2018, Professor
• 1996–1999, Senior Lecturer
• 1988–1996, Lecturer

Middlesex University

• 1985–1988, Senior Lecturer

Ealing College of Higher Education

• 1984–1985, Lecturer

Erith College of Technology

• 1981–1984, Lecturer

Degrees

• BA (Hons) 1st class, University of Greenwich, 1981
• MSc Accounting and Finance, London School of Economics, 1984
• PhD (The Impact of Accounting on our Everyday Lives), 1999, University of Strathclyde

Publications

In press

• Controlling Executive Remuneration: Securing Fairer Distribution of Income, (with Prem Sikka, Tom Hadden, John Christensen, Colin Haslam, Alastair Hudson, Paddy Ireland, Martin Parker, Gordon Pearson, Ann Pettifor, Sol Picciotto, Jeroen Veldman and Hugh Willmott), Independent review commissioned by the Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey MP and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell MP. November 2018
• Anglo American Corporation and the South African State: A contextual analysis of annual reports 1917-1975, (with Hammond, T., and van Staden, C.J.), Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 2017, 30(6), pp. 1399–1423
• Reforming HMRC: Making It Fit For The Twenty-First Century, (with Prem Sikka, Michele Christensen, John Christensen, Tom Hadden, Deborah Hargreaves, Colin Haslam, Paddy Ireland, Glenn Morgan, Martin Parker, Gordon Pearson, Sol Picciotto, Jeroen Veldman and Hugh Willmott,), A Policy Paper Published by the UK Labour Party, 8 September 2016
• An(Other) truth: A feminist perspective on KPMG’s True Value, (with D Senkl) Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Vol. 7 Iss: 4, 2016, pp. 494–516 (* Winner of the Best Paper Award)
• Social Impact Bonds: The Securitization of the Homeless, Accounting, Organizations and Society, (with Graham, C., and Himmick, D.), Volume 55, November 2016, pp. 63–82
• Entrepreneurs of the self: The development of management control since 1976, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Volume 47, November 2015, pp. 14–24
• Against dogmatism, Critical Perspectives On Accounting, Vol 26, p. 1, 2015, (with Annisette, M., and Gendron, Y.)
• Accounting for the fictitious: A Marxist contribution to understanding accounting's roles in the financial crisis, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 30, July 2015, pp. 63–82
• Living in a contradictory world: CPAs admission to SSCI, Critical Perspectives On Accounting, Vol 31, pp. 1–4, 2015 (with Annisette, M., and Gendron, Y.)
• Accounting activism and Bourdieu's 'Collective Intellectual': Reflections on the ICL Case, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 25, Issue 3, May 2014, pp. 237–254 (with Coulson, A.)
• Local Taxation, Spending and Poverty: New Choices and Tax Justice, Poverty Alliance Discussion Paper, 2013 (with Mike Danson and Geoff Whittam)
• Insolvency practice in the field of football, Accounting, Organizations and Society, Volume 38, Issue 2, February 2013, pp. 108–129 (with Joyce, Y.)
• Vulgate accountability – insights from the field of football (with Joanne Johnston), Auditing and Accountability Journal, 25, 4, 2012, pp. 602–634 (with Johnston, J.)
• Accounting for human rights: Doxic health and safety practices – The accounting lesson from ICL Critical Perspectives on Accounting,  Vol, 22, 2011, pp. 738–758; (with Coulson, A., and Taylor, P.)
• The Neoliberal Project – Local Taxation Intervention in Scotland, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 21, Issue 3, March 2010, pp. 195–210 (with Danson, M., Whittham, G. and Sheridan, T.)
• US imperialism in action: An audit-based appraisal of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 20, Issue 6, September 2009, pp. 716–734 (with Catchpowle, L.)
• It was absolute hell: Inside the private prison Capital and Class, Issue 96, Autumn 2008, pp. 3–30 (with Taylor, P.)
• ‘The ICL/Stockline Disaster:  An Independent Report on Working Conditions prior to the Explosion’ (2007), (with Beck, M., Coulson, A., Gorman, T., Howieson, S., McCourt, J., Taylor, P., Watterson, A., Whyte, D.)
• Deskilling in the 21st Century: The Case of Rail Privatisation, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 17, Issue 5, 2006, pp. 525–702 (with Cole, B.)
• Scottish Water: The drift to privatisation and how democratisation could improve efficiency and lower costs, Report commissioned by UNISON, October 2006, pp. 1–56 (with William Dinan, Tommy Kane, David Miller and Shona Russell)
• A Discussion of the Political Potential of Social Accounting, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 16, Issue 7, October 2005, pp. 951–974
• Independently verified reductionism: Prison Privatisation in Scotland (with Taylor, P.), Human Relations, Volume 58, No 4, April 2005, pp. 467–522
• Accounting for the Public Interest: public ineffectuals or public intellectuals, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Volume 18, Issue 5, 2005, pp. 592–607
• Making the Trains Run on Time: The Tyranny of Performance Indicators, Production Planning and Control Special Issue on Performance Measurement, Volume 16, No 2, March 2005, pp. 199–207 (with Cole, B.)
• Capitalism, States and Ac-counting, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 15, Issue 8, November 2004, pp. 1037–1058 (with Catchpowle, L., and Wright, A.)
• Globalisation and its Discontents: A Concern About Growth and Globalisation, Accounting Forum, Vol 27, pp. 359–364, December 2003 (with Neu, D., and Lehman, G.)
• Critical accounting in Scotland, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Volume 13, Issue 4, August 2002, pp. 451–462
• From women’s liberation to feminism: Reflections in accounting academia, Accounting Forum, Vol 25, September 2001 pp. 214–245
• The BCCI Cover-up, Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs, ISBN 1-902384-05-9, 2001 (with Mitchell, A., Sikka, P., Arnold, P., Willmott, H.)
• Insolvent Abuse: Regulating the Insolvency Industry, Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs, ISBN 1-902384-04-0, 2000 (with Cousins, J., Mitchell, A., Sikka, P., Arnold, P.)
• From Taylorism to Mrs Taylor: The transformation of the Accounting Craft, Accounting Organisations, and Society,Vol/issue 25/6, pp. 555–578, 2000, (with Taylor, P.)
• No Escaping the Financial: The Economic Referent in South Africa, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 10, pp. 711–746, 1999, (with Catchpowle, L.)
• A Tale of Two Classes: The Privatisation of Medway Ports, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 10, pp. 127–152, 1999, (with Arnold, P.)
• The impossibility of eliminating the expectations gap: some theory and evidence, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 9, pp. 299–330, 1998, (with Sikka, P., Willmott, H., Puxty, A.G.)
• Against Postmodernism: Class Oriented Questions for Critical Accounting, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 8, pp. 15–41, 1997
• On the proliferation of accounting (his)tories, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 7, pp. 285–313, 1996, (with Puxty, A.)
• Ideology, hegemony and accounting discourse: A case study of the National Union of Journalists, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol 6, pp. 175–209, 1995
• Reading accounting writing,  Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol 19, No 2, pp. 127–146, 1994 (with Puxty, A.)
• M(othering) View on: "Some Feminisms and Their Implications for Accounting Practice", Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol 5, No, 3, 1992 pp. 71–75
• The Non and Nom of Accounting for (M)other Nature, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol 5, No, 3, 1992, pp. 16–39
• Eliminating the Expectations Gap?  Certified Research Report No. 28 (Chartered Association of Certified Accountants). June 1992.  39pp. (with Sikka, P., Willmott, H., Puxty, A.G.)

Work in Progress

• Hillsborough: The fight for accountability, (with Irvine Lapsley)
• Perestroika – replacing liberal democracy with neoliberal accountability (with Jonny Tweedie)
• Neoliberal Control Devices and Social Discrimination: The Case of Paris Saint-Germain Football Fans, (with Charles Cho and Floriane Janin)
• Accounting, enclosure movements and the IASB, Working paper (with Nihel Chabrak, Lesley Catchpowle and Paul Williams)

Recent Research Grants

• Work and Value Creation - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (£22,000), March 2017. (with Patricia Findlay, Paul Thompson and Dr Rachelle Pascoe-Deslauriers
  • This recently awarded grant is for a multi-disciplinary investigation into work and value creation from the perspectives of accounting, political economy and human resource management.
•  University of Sydney - University of Edinburgh Partnership Collaboration Awards (PCA), (AU$ 18,000), August 2018. (with Jane Andrew, Max Baker and Jonathan Tweedie)
  • The impact of accountability and transparency on the practices of prison officers in Australia and Scotland

Positions of Responsibilities and Citizenship

Academic Journals

• Co-Editor-in-Chief - Critical Perspectives on Accounting
• Joint-Editor-in-chief - Accountancy Business and the Public Interest Journal
• Editorial Boards - Accounting, Organisations and Society, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal; Accounting Forum; Journal of Financial Reporting; Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal

Conference Organiser

• Organising Committee of Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, University of Edinburgh, July 2018
• Chair of the European Accounting Association Conference, University of Strathclyde, April 2015
• Organiser of Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Toronto, summer 2014
• Organiser of Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Florida, summer 2011
• Organizing committee of the European Critical Accounting Symposium, July 2006, University of York
• Joint organizer of the Critical Management Conference, Critical Accounting Stream, July 2005, University of Cambridge
• Organizing committee of the European Critical Accounting Symposium, June 2005, University of Warwick
• Joint organizer of the Critical Management Conference, Critical Accounting Stream, July 2004, University of Lancaster Organising Committee of the European Critical Accounting Studies Conference, Leicester, UK, 2002

Advisory Bodies

• Academic adviser in the calculation of the living wage figure for Scotland. The Living Wage Campaign, which has received backing from the Scottish Government, trade unions and faith groups.
• Advisor to Christian Aid on tax evasion
• Academic adviser for the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission
• National Advisory Panel for the Centre for Labour and Socialist Studies. The Centre for Labour and Social
• Studies (Class) is a new think tank established in 2012 to act as a centre for left debate and discussion. Originating in the labour movement, Class works

Scientific Committees

• Member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Guide Scientific Committee

Recent International Presentations

• Plenary speaker, Meditari Accountancy Research Conference 2018, Sun City, South Africa, 27 - 28 June 2018
• Pacioli Dinner Keynote Address, University of Sydney, Australia, 2017
• Plenary speaker Global Conference in Accounting and Finance in Bogotá, Columbia, August 2016
• Distinguished lecture - Critical And Historical Perspectives Research Group - Royal Holloway, London, June 2016
• Invited speaker – 40th anniversary of Accounting, Organisations and Society Conference, London School of Economics, May 2016
• Plenary speaker, inaugural Annual International Accounting Conference Cairo, Egypt, September 2015
• Keynote Speaker Ethics/Public Interest Section American Accounting Association Chicago, USA, August 2015
• Symposium Speaker at the European Accounting Association Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, May 2015
• Plenary Speaker 19th Annual Financial Reporting and Business Conference, Bristol, June 2015
• Closing plenary speaker at the Brazilian Accounting Association Conference in Sao Paulo in July 2014
• Plenary speaker, Critical Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Schulich Business School, Toronto, July 2014 
• Keynote speaker at the Doctoral Consortium of the Association Francophone Comptabilite In Lille in May 2014.
• Plenary speaker, Irish Accounting and Finance Association, Belfast, May 2014 
• Plenary speaker, British Accounting and Finance Association Interdisciplinary Perspectives Special Interest Group, London School of Economics, April 2015 
• Plenary speaker, Second Critical Studies in Accounting and Finance Conference, Abu Dhabi, December 15-17, 2013
• Plenary speaker, 2nd CSEAR France (Congress on Social and Environmental Accounting Research, 2–3 May 2013, Université Montpellier 1, ISEM, France
• Plenary Speaker, University of Wollongong, Australia, Doctoral Consortium, 2 August 2013
• Plenary Speaker, British Accounting and Finance Association, Doctoral Consortium, April 2013, Newcastle
• Asian Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Accounting Conference, Kobe, Japan, July 2013, A longitudinal study of a performance management system in a UK prison
• Panel of the 2011 CSEAR Montreal conference/ Seminaire de recherche, Ecole de Comptabilite, Universite Laval, Quebec/ 4th GECAMB Conference on Environmental Management and Accounting
• Centro de Investigação em Gestão para a Sustentabilidade Leiria, Portugal, 2010, Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury
• Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010/ Plenary speaker at the Inaugural Mediterranean Critical Studies in Accounting and Finance Conference, Tunisia, 2009.  This conference was for academics and practitioners and was sponsored by UIB (Societe General)/ 2009 Symposium speaker at the European Accounting Association Annual Conference.

Prizes and Awards

• BAFA Life-Time Achievement Award (2017)
• 2009 Emerald Management Reviews, Independent Review Board author of one of the top 50 management articles for 2009. US imperialism in action: An audit-based appraisal of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. This paper was concerned with the significant problems created by the lack of proper book-keeping of Iraqi oil revenues by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the Iraq war
• Outstanding Paper Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013, Vulgate accountability – insights from the field of football (with Joanne Johnston), Auditing and Accountability Journal, 25, 4, 2012, pp. 602–634
  • This paper through popular cultural exemplars developed a novel was of understanding the failings of accountability in the 21st century. 

Experience as a Research Supervisor and Examiner

I have supervised 4 students to completion as the primary supervisor and 7 as secondary supervisor through to completion. 

I have examined PhDs across the globe.  More recently, 2014 – Ho Hu Thuy (Strathclyde); Elisavet Mantzari (Southampton); Pala Molisa (Wellington, New Zealand); 2013 – Stewart Smyth (Manchester Met); Ahmed Derbala (Manchester); 2012 – Eagle Zhang (Wollongong Australia); Tiago Cardao-Pito (Strathclyde; Juergen Heinz Seufert (Wollongong, 2014); John Stittle (Essex, 2014); Fadah Alsudairi (Essex, 2014).

Knowledge Exchange

My concern with the impact of accounting on our everyday lives in relation to public sector accounting models has been the concern of four research projects which I have led.  Each of these projects while working with existing government models also encompassed broader social costings. (i) I was the leader on a Scottish Trades Union Congress (UNISON) funded project on the pricing of Water.  The results were disseminated widely (in the form of a report) and were presented to MSPs in Holyrood. (ii) I have been the leader of a longitudinal project into the costing of prisons and the use of public sector comparators.  Earlier findings were included in a high profile report. I gave evidence to the Justice I Committee on prison costings; Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice. (iii)  I was the leader in a UNISON funded project concerned with the costings associated with secondary stock transfer and the information in related business plans. (iv) I was leader of a project which was concerned with railway accounting systems, costing and pricing models since privatisation. 

I work with several NGOs as an accounting advisor. I co-authored a discussion paper for the Poverty Alliance on taxation policy in Scotland - Cooper, C., Mike Danson and Geoff Whittam, Local Taxation, Spending and Poverty: New Choices and Tax Justice, Poverty Alliance Discussion Paper, 2013.

After an industrial accident in Scotland in which 9 people were killed I worked with an inter-disciplinary team of researchers on a report into the broader social context of the disaster from a public accountability perspective. This culminated in the writing of a social account of the explosion. Beck, M., Cooper, C., Coulson, A., Gorman, T., Howieson, S., McCourt, J., Taylor, P., Watterson, A., Whyte, D., "The ICL/Stockline Disaster: An Independent Report on Working Conditions prior to the Explosion‟ (2007). The report was influential in a later public inquiry into the explosion.

I served on the International Advisory Board for the International Finance and Economics Conference 2012, hosted by the Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur, India

I was an academic adviser in the calculation of the living wage figure for Scotland - £7. The Living Wage Campaign, which has received backing from the Scottish Government, trade unions and faith groups, was launched on 5 May 2009, in Glasgow's East End. The launch was attended by a number of MSPs, and the Leader of Glasgow City Council, Stephen Purcell, was the receipt of the first 'award' to an employer in Scotland for paying a living wage.

I am working with, Christian Aid, on their “Christian Aid Tax Campaign” which is designed to develop an accounting standard for the extractive industry. This involves participating in round table discussions which are hosted by the European Parliament Office in Scotland.

I participated in “The Good Banking Summit” which is a joint NEF and Compass initiative to write a submission to the Vicker’s Independent Commission on Banking. Other attendees included Alex Brummer, City Editor, Daily Mail; Professor Victoria Chick, UCL; Will Hutton, executive Vice Chair, The Work Foundation; Chuka Umunna MP, member of the Treasury Select Committee.

I participated in the Oxfam Humankind Index for Scotland and attended several events including one hosted by the Scotland’s Futures Forum at the Scottish Parliament.

In 2016 I was invited to join two groups which are concerned with developing new economic policy for the Labour Party. One group is concerned with taxation and the other corporate governance. Articulated to the work with these two groups is speaking at Labour Party’s 2016 New Economics lecture series to broaden the debate around economics in Britain. All participants speak for themselves, rather than for the Labour Party or the Shadow Chancellor, but it is intended that the themes which emerge will help inform conversations about economic policy across the board. I was delighted to be invited to be a speaker at one of these events at Dundee University with John McDonnell (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer) and Lesley Brennan (economist and MSP) on “The Scottish Economy in 2050”. Speakers at similar events have been Joseph Stiglitz and Yanis Varoufakis.

Christine's research is broadly concerned with the impact of accounting in our everyday lives and this broad interdisciplinary arena has two dominant strands. The first is concerned with the probably unanswerable question - why do we do what we do! In terms of accounting this would mean considering how accounting information or accounting's theoretical frameworks impact upon our decision-making or actions.